The Spirit of Stewardship – Week Five
You have a unique Talent!
By Fr. Dan McKean

Which is the fastest game bird in Europe – the golden plover or the grouse? We may find this question ridiculous and irrelevant, but in 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, got into an argument over this very question. Sir Hugh also happened to be the managing director of the Guinness Brewery. It was this question that made him realize that there should be a book supplying answers to such difficult questions. He eventually commissioned the compiling of what became The Guinness Book of Records. Since the first edition was published in 1955, The Guinness Book of World Records has become a household name.

This same fascination with oddities also led Robert Leroy Ripley into a career of pointing out unique human talents. If you have ever been to a Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum then you that people are able to do some pretty incredible things.

This week we are led to reflect upon the third gift of stewardship – Talents. Talents acknowledge that God has made each of us to be uniquely gifted people. Sometimes our talents are learned and developed through disciplined training. Other talents seem to be just a part of how God made us. Talents can be physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and sometimes even divinely inspired.

There are two truths about Talents – each one of has them, and, like the other gifts that God gives to us, we are to be good stewards of our Talents. For years my mother and father kept telling their struggling son that he did have special talents, even though I hadn’t yet discovered them. My brothers played hockey and got better grades in school. Eventually I began to discover my niche and unique talents.

Since the dawn of humanity, every society relied upon a variety of talents. They also relied on the fact that people would come forward to share those talents with the community. St. Paul records this Christian fact beautifully in his image of the Body of Christ. St. Paul not only acknowledged that we are uniquely gifted, he reminded us that these were "spiritual gifts."

"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." (1 Cor. 12:4-7)

No doubt about it – your generous stewardship of your financial gifts pay the bills, but your generous stewardship of your talent is what keeps our bills to a minimum. The sharing of talents translates in thousands of hours of volunteerism. No amount of money could ever pay for everything that is done in a parish community. Each week hundreds of your fellow parishioners share their time and talents in numerous ways. This is what being parish is all about. Part of my role as a pastor is to call forth the talents that are needed for all aspects of parish life.

Good stewards acknowledge were their talents come from and offer them freely for the sake of the whole. If you do not think that you have a talent to offer, then you need to look again. If you are not sharing your talent, then you need to look around you and wonder what would happen to your parish if other people did not share their time and talents.

"Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance, administration and varieties of tongues…Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts." (1 Cor. 12:27,28,31)